Beyond Beer

The inspiration for Shake Up Cocktails didn’t come from a bar or a boardroom …  it struck at a Midwest state fair.

Untappd, the Next Glass-owned craft beer rating social platform whose users have anointed some craft brewers and crushed the souls of others, has expanded ratable products to include spirits, wine, adult non-alcoholic (ANA) beverages, ready-to-drink cocktails (RTD), THC-infused seltzers, coffee, soda and “more,” according to a press release.

Canned water brand Liquid Death has signed with four mostly craft-centric distributors in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Liquid Death, which is preparing to launch an energy drink line in early 2026, has signed with Hand Family Companies’ subsidiary Sunset Distributing (California), The Odom Corporation (Washington), Bigfoot Beverages and Summit Beverage Distribution Co. (both Oregon).

Tilray Brands CEO Irwin Simon’s visits to college campuses and venues across the U.S. “suggest there’s more price sensitivity” influencing the decline in consumption.

Functional adult non-alc (ANA) spirits brand Aplós has closed a $5 million funding round, the company announced today. The raise follows a breakout year of triple-digit growth across wholesale and retail channels.

BeatBox, the cross-category party punch producer, is reportedly discussing a potential acquisition with Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B), according to a story by the Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” the WSJ estimated the deal at $700 million, but couched that negotiations could “fall apart.”

On the precipice of its first national chain retail placement, Waste arrives as the world’s first canned cocktail made from upcycled ingredients.

Even for an industry born out of risk and uncertainty, hemp beverages are now officially in uncharted waters. As part of the funding bill to reopen the government signed into law last night by President Donald Trump, hemp-derived products will be required to contain less than 0.4 mg THC per container, as of November 13, 2026. Swept away like a storm in the night, the multi-billion-dollar, hemp-derived THC industry is waking up this morning to the stark reality that, barring the creation of a legal federal framework, they will be virtually extinct within a year.

In this episode of the Brewbound Podcast, Mark Anthony Brands president David Barnett details how the bev-alc company is “doing better than most” in today’s challenged marketplace. He spoke about the company’s highlights with Brewbound editor Justin Kendall, in a conversation recorded at the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA’s) Annual Convention in Las Vegas.

The Senate advanced a spending package Monday that includes language that would effectively ban all hemp products. The package now moves to the House, which could pass it through to President Trump as early as today. Industry members for and against the ban have been vocalizing their stance online and in D.C. Below are some of the latest updates.

New Mix, an El Jimador Tequila-based cocktail launched in 1997, has been testing retail shelves across U.S. markets this year, with a wider rollout announced today.

Halloween is officially logged in bev-alc scan data and there’s no reason to be afraid, Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon wrote. During the week ending November 2, total beverage-alcohol dollar sales declined 2.3% year-over-year (YoY), but increased 4% week-over-week (WoW).

Intoxicating hemp beverages could be sacrificed in a deal to reopen the federal government. As political factions in Washington, D.C., spar over how to end the longest-ever federal government shutdown in U.S. history, legislators – led by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) – are attempting to use the situation to shape the future of hemp and intoxicating THC products and restrict the market created by the 2018 Farm Bill.

Bev-alc industry members have been more vocal than ever this week about their stances on intoxicating hemp beverages, and the Beer Institute (BI) was no exception at the trade group’s annual Membership Meeting held Wednesday in Washington, D.C. BI president and CEO Brian Crawford dedicated the majority of his remarks to intoxicating hemp, and the BI’s desire for regulation.